18 TEACHER’S GUIDE The Life of Jack Prelutsky 18 TEACHER’S GUIDE The Life of Jack Prelutsky ... What do you think the poem is about? ... Remind children to go

Number of Words: 632

L E S S O N 1 8 T E A C H E R ’ S G U I D E

The Life of Jack Prelutskyby Lisa Benjamin

Fountas-Pinnell Level MBiographySelection SummaryThis book tells the life story of the contemporary American poet Jack Prelutsky. The engaging narrative gives young readers an appreciation of Prelutsky’s work, while appealing to their own creativity.

Copyright © by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

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Characteristics of the Text Genre • Biography

Text Structure • Third person factual narrative• Major events presented in chronological order

Content • Milestones in Prelutsky’s career including his decision to become a poet• Themes and subjects in Prelutsky’s poems

Themes and Ideas • Love of writing and the writer’s relationship with readers• Poetic inspiration and the importance of creativity

Language and Literary Features

• Conversational language• Use of descriptive language (…sail through the sky on fl uttering wings.)

Sentence Complexity • Some longer, complex sentences with introductory clauses (When Jack grew up, he had many jobs.)

• Commas in series (big, grand ideas)Vocabulary • Names of Prelutsky’s books and poems

• Place names (Seattle, Washington) and name of school (School of Music and Art)Words • Some challenging words (boring, exactly, dragons, honored)

• Possessive form of nouns (Jack’s, children’s)• Hyphenated words (taco-fl avored)

Illustrations • Humorous illustrations from Prelutsky’s books extend content.• Reproduction of Prelutsky’s hand-written poem extends content.

Book and Print Features • Names of books in italics; names of poems in quotation marks• Excerpt from poem in italics

© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.

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Target Vocabulary

accepted – agreed to something, p. 8

express – v. show what you are feeling or thinking, p. 6

fl uttering – moves with small, quick movements, p. 9

grand – large, special, or important, p. 10

pretend – to imagine, or make-believe, that something is real, p. 6

prize – an award for winning a contest or doing something well, p. 13

taught – told or showed what to do, p. 4

wonder – v. try to understand more about something, p. 7

The Life of Jack Prelutsky by Lisa Benjamin

Build BackgroundHelp children use their knowledge of poetry to understand this biography. Build interest by asking questions such as the following: What kinds of poems do you like to read? Why do you enjoy them? Read the title and author and talk about the cover picture. Tell children that this book is a biography. It tells about the life of a real person.

Introduce the TextGuide children through the text, noting important ideas and helping with unfamiliar language and vocabulary so that they can read the text successfully. Here are some suggestions:

Pages 2-3: Explain that this book tells about the life of a famous American poet, Jack Prelutsky.Suggested language: On page 2 you can see a photograph of Jack Prelutsky today. He has written more than 40 books of poetry. On page 3 you can see what he looked like when he was your age.

Page 6: Draw attention to the illustration. As a young adult, Jack started to write poetry. He liked that, in a poem, he could pretend that trees can sing. Why can a writer create imaginary things in a poem?

Page 7: Draw attention to the hand-written poem. This photo shows a poem in the poet’s handwriting. Let’s point to the title, the poem, and Prelutsky’s name.

Page 10: Some of Prelutsky’s poems are about big, grand ideas. What is an example of a grand idea? But Prelutsky also writes about things in everyday life, too. The photo shows the subject of one of his poems. What do you think the poem is about?

Now turn back to the beginning of the book and read to fi nd out how Jack Prelutsky became an award-winning poet.

2 Lesson 18: The Life of Jack Prelutsky Grade 2© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

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ReadHave children read The Life of Jack Prelutsky silently while you listen to individual children read. Support their problem solving and fl uency as needed.

Remind children to use the Analyze/Evaluate Strategy and to tell how they feel about the book as they read and why.

Discuss and Revisit the TextPersonal ResponseInvite children to share their personal responses to the book.Suggested language: After reading this book, would you like to write your own poetry? Why or why not?

Ways of ThinkingAs you discuss the text, help children understand these points:

Thinking Within the Text Thinking Beyond the Text Thinking About the Text

• Jack Prelutsky has written many books of poems.

• Jack Prelutsky has won many awards for his poetry.

• Jack Prelutsky writes about simple and grand ideas.

• Ideas for poems are all around us.

• Finding something you love to do is important.

• The author’s attitude towards her subject is that readers will enjoy learning about this creative man and his poetry.

• A mix of photographs and humorous illustrations make the text more fun to read.

© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.

Choices for Further Support• Fluency Invite children to choose a passage from the text to read aloud to the class.

Encourage them to use rising and falling tones in a way that refl ects the text meaning and end mark punctuation, including questions marks and exclamation points.

• Comprehension Based on your observations of the children’s reading and discussion, revisit parts of the text to clarify or extend comprehension. Remind children to go back to the text to support their ideas.

• Phonics/Word Work Provide practice as needed with words and word parts, using examples from the text. Help children identify the base words and endings in the following: writes (p.2); drawing (p. 3); jobs (p. 5); exactly (p. 5); accepted(p. 8); children’s (p. 13). Work with children to use three of the base words in original sentences.


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Writing about ReadingCritical ThinkingHave children complete the Critical Thinking questions on BLM 18.8.

RespondingHave children complete the activities at the back of the book. Use the instruction below as needed to reinforce or extend understanding of the comprehension skill.

Target Comprehension SkillUnderstanding Characters

Target Comprehension Skill Remind children that they can use details to

help them understand a person described in a book. Model the skill, using a “Think Aloud” like the one below:

Think Aloud

What can I learn about Jack Prelutsky from reading this book? On page 14, I read that he hopes children will always enjoy his poems. He hopes that they will want to become poets one day, too. These details help me understand something about him. He cares about his young readers and their lives. It’s clear that he wants children to be happy and creative.

Practice the SkillHave children fi nd another detail in the book that tells them something important about Jack Prelutsky.

Writing Prompt: Thinking Beyond the TextHave children write a response to the prompt on page 6. Remind them that when they think beyond the text, they use what they know and their own experience to think about what happens in the book.

Assessment Prompts• Which words on page 5 helps readers understand the meaning of the word illustrator?

• What are three words that describe Jack Prelutsky’s poetry?



Read directions to children.

Think About ItRead and answer the questions.

1. Why do you think people like Jack Prelutsky’s poetry?

2. Why do you think some people like scary poems?

3. Why is The Life of Jack Prelutsky called a biography?

Making Connections Think about something you might find outside your school, such as a tree or a rock. Write a short poem about it. Make your poem funny.

Write your answer in your Reader’s Notebook.

Grade 2, Unit 4: Heroes and Helpers

Name Date Lesson 18

B L A C K L I N E M A S T E R 1 8 . 8

The Life of Jack Prelutsky

Think About It

Think About It

English Language DevelopmentReading Support Work with children in pairs to help them echo-read the poem on page 7 of the book. Remind them to pay attention to the commas and other punctuation marks at the end of each line of the poem. Then discuss the meaning of the poem and the imagery of the wolf in a laundromat.

Cultural Support Explain to children that nightmares (p. 11) are very bad dreams.

Oral Language DevelopmentCheck children’s comprehension, using a dialogue that best matches their English profi ciency level. Speaker 1 is the teacher, Speaker 2 is the child.

Beginning/Early Intermediate Intermediate Early Advanced/ Advanced

Speaker 1: Who is this book about?

Speaker 2: Jack Prelutsky

Speaker 1: Why does Jack Prelutsky do?

Speaker 2: writes poems

Speaker 1: What kind of job did Jack Prelutsky want to fi nd?

Speaker 2: The right job for him.

Speaker 1: What are two things Jack Prelutsky wrote about in his poems?

Speaker 2: talking animals; singing trees; wishes; dreams

Speaker 1: How would you describe Jack Prelutsky’s poems?

Speaker 2: Some are silly; some are scary; some are about big ideas; some are about everyday things.



Name Date

The Life of Jack PrelutskyThinking Beyond the Text

Read the paragraph below. Then write your questions and answers on the lines.

Write three questions you would like to ask Jack Prelutsky about his poetry. Then write the answers you think Jack Prelutsky would give, based on details in the book.



Think About ItRead and answer the questions.

1. Why do you think people like Jack Prelutsky’s poetry?

2. Why do you think some people like scary poems?

3. Why is The Life of Jack Prelutsky called a biography?

Making Connections Think about something you might find outside your school, such as a tree or a rock. Write a short poem about it. Make your poem funny.

Write your answer in your Reader’s Notebook.

Name Date Lesson 18

B L A C K L I N E M A S T E R 1 8 . 8


Think About It



1413797

Student Date Lesson 18

B L A C K L I N E M A S T E R 1 8 . 1 2

The Life of Jack Prelutsky LEVEL M Running Record Form


Behavior Code Error

Read word correctly ✓cat 0

Repeated word, sentence, or phrase

®cat

0

Omission —cat 1

Behavior Code Error

Substitution cutcat 1

Self-corrects cut sccat 0

Insertion the

cat 1

Word told Tcat 1

page Selection Text Errors Self-Corrections

2

3

Do you like poems? Do you like to laugh?

Jack Prelutsky is a poet. He writes poems

that make people laugh. He writes about taco-

flavored ice cream. He writes about having your

nose between your toes or in your hair.

He has written more than 40 books of poetry.

One book is called It’s Raining Pigs & Noodles.

Another is called Something Big Has Been Here.

This book is about Jack Prelutsky’s life. This

kind of book is called a biography.

Jack was born in 1940. He lived in New York

City. Jack liked a lot of things when he was

growing up.

Comments: Accuracy Rate (# words read

correctly/104 × 100)

%

Total Self- Corrections



18 TEACHER’S GUIDE The Life of Jack Prelutsky 18 TEACHER’S GUIDE The Life of Jack Prelutsky ... What do you think the poem is about? ... Remind children to go

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